COAI Urges Government to Expedite Lower 6 GHz Band Rules for Better Broadband

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has publicly called upon the government to promptly notify rule amendments that would permit standard power operations in the delicensed lower 6 GHz frequency band. Industry representatives report that this regulatory step is intended to address persistent last-mile broadband connectivity gaps across the country.

Expert Committee Recommendations

According to the reported statements, an expert committee led by Professor Radha Krishna Ganti of IIT Madras and constituted by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) previously recommended allowing higher-power outdoor use at 36 dBm within the 5925–6425 MHz band. Industry stakeholders have requested the telecom ministry to implement these findings without further delay.

Addressing Last-Mile Challenges

COAI Director General Lt Gen (Retd) S P Kochhar noted that while India's broadband sector has developed substantially, rural, semi-urban, and remote regions continue to face connectivity hurdles. Reported challenges include:

• Right-of-Way (RoW) difficulties
• Limited physical fibre availability
• High deployment costs in difficult-to-reach areas

The association stated that fixed wireless access (FWA) and point-to-multi-point (P2MP) deployments utilizing standard power could serve as practical alternatives where fibre rollout is economically unviable or physically challenging.

Potential Impact and Verification

COAI reported that operationalizing the 500 MHz of delicensed spectrum for outdoor standard power use could help bridge the digital divide by extending high-speed connectivity to underserved homes, enterprises, and institutions.

Readers and industry observers seeking to verify these developments should consult official publications and notifications released directly by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) or formal press releases issued by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).